now. big problems in federal hill. see the obstacles firefighters face. >> a 14-year-old girl died. now a hagerstown family said it's the fault of an energy drink company. >> with winter around the corner, you'll want to lower your energy bills. the fire department said an early morning fire destroyed one home and damaged three others. it happened in the 1200 block of battery avenue. luckily the neighbors were able to get out. the owner apparently had collected a lot of belongings over the years and it was stacked up five feet high on all three floors. the personal effects acting like a kindling for the fast moving

flames. >> a lot of combustible materials there that kept -- fueled the fire and kept it going for awhile, made it very difficult for us to get in. >> no one was seriously hurt. firefighters were at the scene well into the afternoon trying to put out some of those hot spots. investigators are still trying to determine a cause. an anne arundel police officer is hurt in crash in glen burnie. the officer apparently was on his way to a call when his car was t-boned by a toyota van that failed to yield. no word on the officer's condition. a man is dead after his scooter collided with a car in disun dock. baltimore county police said dale upper grass was traveling westbound when he struck an on coming car traveling on church road. the scoot are was trying to beat a yellow light and had come

around a truck that was coming so the on coming driver couldn't see him until it was too late. >> everybody got out and the whole neighborhood came to the guy's aids. he wasn't moving. he wasn't responding. when the ambulance took him away, there were no sirens or anything. >> he was pronounced dead. the accident still under investigation. i want you to take a good look at this sketch. this man was fond in the back refer under the 695 bridge last september. a forensic artist did a skull reconstruction. a white male, 40 to 60, possibly from dundalk. if you can help, give police a

call. tonight five deaths and a heart attack could be linked to a heavily caffeinated monster energy drink. >> now the food and drug administration is investigating. the investigation follows a wrongful death lawsuit. the family blames her death on the two 24-ounce monster drinks that she drank in 24 hours. she died of cardiac arrhythmia. machine -- monster as it does not believe it caused the death. the national weather service said an ef0 tornado happened, winds around 80 miles an hour blue through jarrettsville. the man's hus had roof damage and several trees down. the good news is no one was hurt. >> the storm system dropped the

tornado in pennsylvania, lancaster. here's the shot, looking really nice, crystal clear skies. that's going to allow our temperatures to cool down. into the 60s. 62347 baltimore -- 67 in baltimore. 71 in d.c. temperatures uniformly in the upper 60s to around 70. clear skies overhead. it's all about the warming trend that's taking shape over the nation, some warm air and back dunn into new orleans. that will be coming out over the next several days. 62 degrees. late night hours falls back to 62. we're right into the 70s going into tomorrow. we'll talk more about the seven-day forecast and issues from the trop beings next --

tropics. >> the cases of fungal meningitis continues to rise. we're up to 17 cases with one death here. this has been linked to contaminated steroid shots given for back pain. the medication was traced to a specialty pharmacy in massachusetts and has since been recalled. grandparents are always willing to share parenting advice but there are some things they ned to learn when this comes to child safety a recent study finds 33% of grandparents say it's okay for babies to slope on their stomachs. according to the american academy of pediatrics, babies should sleep on their back and a nine-month-old -- grandparents think it's okay to have bumpers, stuffed animals in cribs, which is also a no-no.

all right. if you get an offer for a free or low cost energy audit, hold off on that. >> it could be another scam. joce sterman has details on what you need to do before letting that auditor have access to your house. >> reporter: debbie wanted to cut back on her energy bill. when someone appeared at her door offering a free energy audit, she agreed. >> he presented himself as if he were an official of some sort. he was with the state or the city or the local energy company. >> reporter: but after a quick check of the attic, windows and doors, the so-called auditor turned on a hard sale and said they ned to bee a $4,000 solar plaimpg cet for the attic. >> i was mad that he misdieded

us. >> reporter: debbie was just one victim of what the consumer fed raising of america calls an energy audit scam. >> scam ares sndz consumers postcards, make phone calls, offering free energy audits that will save them hundreds a month. >> reporter: grant says the auditors often apply they're with a government agency or utility company. >> their intpt is to sell them things like heat barriers, which actually do save them. >> reporter: and shoddy work could be the result. these pictures were taken inside a home where the owner fell for a free energy scam and paid the company to put in insulation. turns out the company was unlicensed and never returned to finish the job. >> we've seen cases where the work has not been completed fully or people were not benefiting. >> reporter: phone solicitations for free home energy audits are

among the fastest do not call complaints. debbie warns the people selling can be persistent. >> the formula is that these people get in your house. once they're in your house, it's hard to get them out of the house. >> reporter: joce sterman, abc2 news. >> many utility companies do offer free legitimate energy audits but they most likely won't cold call or slice you. if someone comes to your don't, ask for identification. doing all the shopping, you know, families have endless choices -- whether that's breakfast, lunch or dinner. >> some families are going organic to make shower your families are getting food that's dpd for you. what the american academy is saying. >> go down to the south and west it's 80 in memphis.

a big warmup. your full forecast coming up.

hundred and eighty million dollars for maryland schools. that's a lot of money. my classroom. games and a new casino for maryland. million more for education every year. the money goes where it's supposed to. it's the law. this is about our kids. this is about better schools. seven. i'm voting for question seven. i'm voting for question seven.

seems like more and more parents are concerned about pesticides. >> the question is are ore dan nick foods better. the american academy of pediatrics said there's no added value and no benefit to avoiding pesticides. >> by consuming organic foods, you are consuming less pesticides. however, there's no research stating there's a benefit.

>> researchers studied the evidence and found nutritional differences between organic and con vptional produce to be small but organic produce does have less pesticides. let's take a look at kent island. beautiful shot. temperatures getting up close to 70 degrees. look at the colors to the north and west. it's beautiful along appalachian trail, reds popping. tang a look at the -- take a look at the shot. temperatures will be falling. pretty warm, 67 degrees. 39% humidity. all about the wind. westerly wind keeping us on, well, the mild side. the real warmth will come in.

look at temperatures across the state, 67 baltimore. 66 frederick. eastern shore ranging from 63 to 65 degrees. made it to 70 at bwi. 85 is the record. look at the sunset. 6:17. days continue to get shorter and shorter. our plan are does reflect -- planner does reflect clear skies. 47 degrees around the tuesday morning commute. we'll be back up around 70 degrees. take a look at maryland's most powerful radar. that will keep us high and dry. then some clouds working over the western horizon. not a big system. that will stay more toward the pennsylvania, new jersey site. 72 in cincinnati. 80 in nashville.

it willno carrierringconnect 140

so sandy might be an issue. >> we want it give you a big thank you from abc2 and komen.

many laced up their shoes to raise money. >> this year just under 23,000 walkers and runners and they raids $2 million. abc2 is a proud spoonser -- son -- sponsor. each week abc2 news is highlighting a student. go to abc2news.com/athlete and let us know who should be the next student athlete of the week.

here at abc2 we are committed to giving you the best information possible. as part of our commitment we're bringing you five-minute interviews. joining us is the democratic candidate for maryland's congressional district number seven. >> an opening statement from you as you like to address your consistents. >> as we stated my name is charles smith. i'm running for the 7th congressional seat as a democrat. i ran in the primary as a

democrat and i'm advocating what most politicians, gop and democrats are now advocating. i'm saying that because of the wall street 2007 mortgage credit thing fault, that we should hold out and the scandals inning land, weed is be holding out wall street brokers or the government officials to hold more accountability to the investtors. it me, there's a lot of problems we're facing but to me that is the biggest because we need investor coughed to come back. rote now young that they're

confident now. the democrats and republicans are kind of dragginger that feet on that issue of doing congressional hearings and stuff like that to find out just who was at fault. that's my opening statement. >> all right. we are dealing with a $16 trillion debt and unemployment of 8% and a housing market that's shaky at best. how do you address that? where do dow you start? >> where it begin, in the housing, mortgage industry. ed is coming out that they knew what was coming long before it even happened. the rather add penetration under president obama, they sort of

turned their head the other way, did nothing. the sec and these other organizations that were in place, supposedly the watchdogs for these institutions did nothing, and when the mortgage industry fell, everything else just followed suit. it's ent related. people loster that houses, their pension funds, their savings, everything all in a short part of a period of two years. >> former secretary of state condoleezza rice referred to education in the u.s. as quote the civil rights struggle of our day. do you agree with that assessment? if so, how do you address it. >> it's always been a civil rights struggle. i had the opportunity while i

was doing to are sue my education, i had a chance it study the school system. it's always been a problem. my point of view -- i thought bussings with a dpd thing, but it enabled our young kids to get a better education than where they were. this has been a problem going on since the 1900's, going back that far. it's in the just now. it's always been a problem. now you have a bet are chance of getting an education than you ever did. whether they take advantage of it or not, that's another story. >> how do you deal with afghanistan? i mean, what is the end game there? >> i can't -- just my opinion, i can't advice anyone on for

policy, but when they first did it, voted on it, i thought it was a mistake, okay. i still think it was a mistake but if they had done it in the right way when they went in, then it could have worked, but they made the same mistakes as they decide in vietnam, okay. i served in the 3rd infantry division while these a-- atrocities supposedly took place. the same thing i witnessed there, i heard on the news they were doing in afghanistan. >> all right. sir, thank you for your time. we have to cut you off there. to see this interview and other candidates interviews, go to abc2news.com/politics. don't forget to vote on tuesday, november 6th. >> we will see you tonight right

after the debate. >> at 11. as a pastor, my support for question 6 is rooted in my belief that the government should treat everyone equally. i wouldn't want someone denying my rights based upon their religious views, so i shouldn't deny others based upon mine. it's about fairness. i support this law because it doesn't force any church to perform a same sex marriage if it's against their beliefs. and that's what this is about.

protecting religious freedom and all marylanders equally under the law. join me in voting for question 6.